Sea Bird

Sea-Bird (1962–1973) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career which lasted from 1964 until October 1965 he ran eight times and won seven races. Sea Bird is most famous for his victories in two of Europe's most prestigious races: the Epsom Derby and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. His Timeform rating of 145 remained the highest flat figure awarded by that publication for almost fifty years.

Background

Sea-Bird was a chestnut horse with a narrow white blaze and white socks on his hind legs bred at the stables of his owner, the Lille textile manufacturer Jean Ternynck. Sea-Bird was sired by the French Derby runner-up Dan Cupid, and trained, like his sire, in France by Etienne Pollet at Chantilly. None of his five immediate dams ever won a flat race, although his great-grandam Couleur did produce Camaree, who won the 1000 Guineas in 1950, and Sea Bird was more distantly related to the Belmont Stakes winner High Echelon.

Name

In France, the horse was known as Sea-Bird, a practice followed by many modern writers. When racing abroad and standing at stud he was usually referred to as "Sea Bird II". He was referred to as "Sea-Bird II" by Timeform.